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This Day in Buffalo Sports History: Audette overshadowed

March 30, 1995 --- Here's a definition of a tough day at the office: A hockey player scores the first hat track of his NHL career ... and he doesn't even get to take a bow about it in front of the home fans.

That's what happened to one of the Sabres on this date.

Donald Audette was the player in question. He got three goals in a 7-0 win over the Ottawa Senators before 12,386 in Memorial Auditorium.

The final goal came with 1:35 left to play, and obviously didn't affect the outcome. So Audette had to let others take bows.

"I can't worry about that stuff," Audette said of the oversight to The News' Milt Northrop. "Everybody played well. Tough choice."

First star Alexander Mogilny registered a career-high four assists, second star Jason Dawe scored a pair of goals and an assist, and third star Dominik Hasek turned in his third shutout. So called Audette the fourth star after getting the first Sabre hat trick since Derek Plante had one on Dec. 1, 1993, against Tampa Bay.

--- Budd Bailey

Budd Bailey – Budd Bailey is a retired reporter and editor from The Buffalo News. He has served in a variety of roles in Buffalo sports in the past 40 years, including reporter, talk-show host, baseball announcer, and public relations staffer. Budd has had nine books published.